


Overwhelming

by thehumancondition



Category: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Genre: M/M, a little bit of cussing, charlie gets high, takes place after 'hero or hate crime'
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-25
Updated: 2017-02-25
Packaged: 2018-09-26 19:28:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9918845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thehumancondition/pseuds/thehumancondition
Summary: Mac finally comes out to the gang. Charlie gets high off of glue and tells Mac how he really feels.





	

**Author's Note:**

> this is only my second it's always sunny fic so i'd love some feedback! i'd also appreciate it if you guys would read my other charlie/mac fic. thank you and i hope you enjoy it!

“Yeah I’m..I’m gay,” Mac says.

He takes the scratch off and leaves. Charlie is stunned. Of course he knows Mac is gay, but he didn’t expect him to come out. At least not yet. The gang is talking about what just happened but Charlie can’t focus on that. All he hears is Mac saying “I’m gay” over and over again.

“Charlie? Hey asshole! Snap out of it, we’re leaving,” he hears Dennis say. “Okay,” is all he responds before standing up and following them. “Where do you think Mac is?” Dee asks. “Probably getting blown,” Frank replies. “What if he gets a boyfriend? What will that do to us?” Dennis asks.

“It better not make anything weird. I don’t want to see any of that in the bar,” Frank says. Dee and Dennis agree. “Can’t you guys just be happy for him? That was probably so hard for him and you guys are worried about yourselves,” Charlie interrupts.

“Oh! He speaks!” Dee teases. “Geez, learn to take a joke man,” Dennis scoffs. “It’s not a joke to me. It’s not funny,” Charlie says angrily. He’s not used to sticking up for himself, or anyone for that matter, but it feels good. “Where is this coming from?” Dee asks.

“I’m tired of you guys not caring about anyone else. Mac just came out and you’re still not happy but you were annoyed when he was in the closet. What do you want from him?” Charlie’s shaking at this point. He doesn’t know what’s coming over him. He walks off in the other direction before he does something he’ll regret.

He goes to the bar hoping Mac will be there. He’s the only person Charlie wants to be around right now. He sighs when he walks into the bar and finds it empty. He grabs a beer and sits down and chugs it but he still feels on edge. He goes down into the basement and grabs his glue.

He hasn’t gotten high in a while, but he needs to calm down. Charlie unscrews the cap and takes a big whiff. It’s still not enough. He takes three more before it really kicks in. He’s forgotten about confronting Dennis, Dee and Frank and all he can think about is Mac.

He puts the glue back and decides to go see Mac. Maybe he’ll want to go out and celebrate. It feels like it takes twice as long to get to the apartment. He doesn’t bother knocking when he gets there, he knows where the spare key is. He unlocks the door and hears something coming from Mac’s room.

“Mac? What’s going –” Charlie stops when he opens Mac’s bedroom door. “Shit,” Mac says and quickly grabs a pillow to cover himself. Charlie’s eyes are glued to the stranger in Mac’s bed. He’s muscular and covered in tattoos. He has a buzz cut hair style and he’s practically the opposite of Charlie.

“Do you mind?” The stranger asks. “Charlie, why didn’t you knock?” Mac asks. Charlie doesn’t answer. He shuts the door and runs out of the apartment. “I’m sorry, this should only take a second,” Mac says to the man in his bed. He doesn’t even remember his name. 

“Charlie, wait!” Mac calls after him. He finally catches up to Charlie’s who’s angrily punching the elevator button. “Charlie, talk to me,” Mac begs. He doesn’t know why Charlie is so upset with him. “Did I do something?” 

Still nothing. “Charlie, please. I’m sorry for whatever I did.” Charlie finally gives up on the button and slowly slides down on the floor. He’s covering his face but Mac knows he’s crying. He sits next to him and holds Charlie close to him. He’s shaking and he feels cold and Mac knows it’s a panic attack.

“Why him?” Charlie asks. “I uh, thought he was cute,” Mac says. He doesn’t know why Charlie’s asking about him. “Am I not cute enough?” Mac freezes. “What are you talking about?” Mac asks. “That guy was the opposite of me. Why am I not enough?” He starts crying again and moves away from Mac.

Mac knows he’s high. He only has panic attacks when he sniffs glue, but why is he saying this stuff? “Charlie, you’re my best friend. This is different. Now that I’m out I can be happy with a boyfriend. I’ll still have plenty of time for you,” he promises. 

“I can be your boyfriend. Why him? Why not me?” Mac feels like he just got the wind knocked out of him. He knows Charlie won’t remember any of this and he’s only saying it because of the glue, but he seems really upset over this. “Charlie, you don’t mean that. Let me take you home, you need to sleep this off.”

He reaches for Charlie’s hand and Charlie scoots away. “I love you Mac. Why don’t you love me?” Charlie looks him dead in the eyes. “C’mon Charlie,” he picks Charlie up even though he tries to get down. “I love you, you idiot!” He screams while pounding on Mac’s chest. He opens the door to the apartment and sees the dude from the club left.

He sighs and puts Charlie in his bed. He finally falls asleep. He grabs an extra pillow and blanket and lays down the couch. Dennis walks in and gives Mac a weird look. “Charlie came over high on glue and had an anxiety attack,” he explains. “You know he was a real dick to us earlier. He tried telling us we don’t care about anyone,” Dennis scoffs.

“What were you guys doing?” Mac asks. “Well, Frank was worried that you being out might make things weird and he doesn’t want to see anything in the bar. I asked what would happen to us if you got a boyfriend. He took it the wrong way.” 

“He stood up for me?” Mac asks with a small smile. “Yeah, it was weird. He said we need to be happy for you because this wasn’t easy for you,” Dennis says. Mac takes a minute to process all of this new information. That explains the glue huffing and anxiety. “Well, goodnight,” Dennis says before going into his room.

Mac lays down but he knows he won’t be sleeping. Charlie can’t be in love with him, that had to be the glue talking, but what if he meant it? Does that mean their friendship is over? Even though Charlie won’t remember of this, how can Mac forget it? They’ve been friends for so long and he doesn’t want anything to change.

He lies awake all night trying to figure out whether he should confront Charlie about what he said. He still hasn’t decided when he hears Charlie groan and walk into the living room. “Holy shit Mac, you look terrible. Did you not sleep?” Charlie asks. Mac looks in the mirror and sees the dark circles and bags under his eyes and sighs.

“No, it was a uh, weird night,” he hopes this will spark Charlie’s memory. “Really? I don’t remember anything.” “You were pretty messed up,” Mac says. Charlie notices something seems off but doesn’t question it. “So uh, should we go to the bar?” Charlie asks him. “You can. Just tell them I’m sick,” Mac replies.

“Okay, well, see you later.” Charlie leaves and Mac lays back down on the couch. He replays their conversation over again in his head. He feels overwhelmed and he can’t take it anymore. He doesn’t want to think about what will happen if he tells Charlie what he said. He can’t lose the most important person in his life.

He doesn’t realize he’s crying until he looks down and sees his shirt is wet. He quickly wipes the tears from his cheeks but then he breaks out into a sob. He doesn’t hear Charlie come in and jumps when Charlie asks what’s wrong. “Nothing,” Mac lies as he quickly wipes his face dry. 

“Bullshit, you’re sobbing Mac. I don’t remember the last time I saw you cry. What’s going on?” Mac shakes his head, “I can’t tell you.” Charlie sighs. “We’re best friends. What’s so bad you can’t even tell me?” Charlie starts to get more and more worried. “You really don’t remember anything from last night?”

Charlie shakes his head. “Did I hurt you? Did I hurt the gang?” “No, you didn’t hurt anyone.” “Then tell me what I did because I obviously screwed up,” Charlie says angrily. Mac takes a deep breath and wipes his sweaty palms onto his jeans. Charlie can see he’s shaking a little and he tries to brace himself for what Mac’s about to say.

“You got really high after you went off on the rest of the gang to defend me. I brought someone home from the Rainbow and you walked in on us. You had an anxiety attack. You said you could be my boyfriend and that you love me. You kept asking why I didn’t pick you. That’s why I didn’t sleep last night.”

The two sit in silence for what seems like hours. Charlie can’t believe he messed up this badly. He’s never hated himself more. Mac doesn’t even know what to say to make the situation less awkward. Charlie quietly starts to cry and gets up to leave. He can’t stand to be around Mac right now.

“Charlie, you can’t just leave,” Mac says. “I don’t know what to say,” he replies. “Did you mean it? Is what you said true?” Mac finally gets the courage to look Charlie in the eyes but Charlie quickly looks away. “Yeah,” Charlie whispers so quietly that Mac doesn’t even hear him.

“Speak up,” Mac says. “Yes! It was true okay? Now let me leave because we clearly can’t be friends anymore. My dumb ass messed everything up so let me fix it by leaving,” Charlie feels another panic attack coming on and Mac goes over and pulls him into a hug. 

“I love you too idiot,” Mac says into his ear. Charlie shivers from Mac’s words and he feels like the room is spinning. “You do?” Charlie breaks out from the hug to look at Mac to see if he’s messing with him. Mac’s lips turn into a smile. “Yeah. I, Ronald McDonald, am in love with Charlie Kelly.” Charlie smiles and then starts laughing. He can’t believe this.

“I didn’t want you to find out like that. I’m sorry,” Charlie apologizes. “It’s fine, I’m just happy I know,” Mac says. He grabs Charlie’s hand and they look at each other and let out sighs of relief. Charlie’s eyes flicker down to Mac’s lips and Mac closes the gap between them. It’s even better than what they’ve imagined.

Normally kissing would gross Charlie out, but it’s different with Mac. Mac reminds him of childhood and Charlie doesn’t know where’d he be if he would’ve never met Mac. He could kiss him for hours and it wouldn’t be enough. He never thought he would be doing this with his best friend. He starts smiling into the kiss and Mac does the same. 

“I love you,” Mac says again. “I love you too,” Charlie says. It feels good to say it without being high. “So, I guess we should go tell the others,” Mac laughs. “We’ll never hear the end of it,” Charlie says nervously. “Who cares as long as we’re happy?” Mac asks. This relaxes Charlie and he agrees they should tell them. Mac grabs Charlie’s hand and they head off to the bar to share the news with the gang.


End file.
